


What a Sight

by Glorious_Monday



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Basically, Character Analysis, Friendship, Gen, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Not Happy, Redemption, Regret, eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-27 05:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 11
Words: 13,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6271783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glorious_Monday/pseuds/Glorious_Monday
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He went to hell and back with those three idiots, literally. He couldn't laugh about them and say those were good times because now when those three idiots think about those times they'll think that they were horrible, that he was horrible.</p><p>Takes place after The End Part 2</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What a Sight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Regret eats you up in the inside, no matter who you are.

The cold snow fell softly onto a large brown box at the corner of an abandoned alleyway, the small flakes fall on top and join the small layer of flakes already there. Underneath the large box there was a man shivering as he clenched his teeth and pulled the red hoodie he had on tighter around him in an attempt to keep warm.

It's funny how life works, isn't it? He was at the top his game, he created a formidable crew and he had knowledge of a weapon that would have people begging on their knees for mercy. He almost had the world his hands. It was reached out it front of him, all he needed to do was reach out and swipe it but he didn't get a chance to do that.

Those three idiots, they ruined everything. They destroyed his weapon in the most ridiculous way possible. 

He was angry, he was hurt. He looked down at them from afar that very day and scowled as he grabbed at his bandaged arm. His face felt like it was on fire. He didn't know if was from the large cuts on the left side of his face or this burning anger. He saw those three idiots from afar and felt mad at them and at himself. A little part of him wanted to go down and apologize. Those three idiots were once his friends weren't they.

"I never was your friend."

The phrase burned in his mind and he squashed that small part in himself. He didn't need friends.

"What now boss?", They asked him when he came back.  
"I don't know.", He admitted. He was so sure that his plan would work that he hadn't even thought of a back up plan. He thought about working on the weapon again, fix it up and make it even better than it was before. He didn't. Something inside of him burned out and he didn't know what to do.

After a while they all left. They saw that it was going nowhere and he was left alone. 

"I don't need them.", He thought but oh god was he wrong. The silence of the base made his thoughts clear and louder. He banged his head against the walls. He talked to himself. He ran around or did some push ups. Those thoughts, he hated them.

"Go back to them.", They said. "Go back to your friends."

He didn't need friends, he didn't want them. They just drag you down. At least that's what he would tell himself.

After a while he left. With nothing but a pistol in his hoodie pocket, he made his way over to that familiar city.

The first place he went to was the ashes of the house that used to hold so much meaning. It was gone now though. Those memories of him joining those three idiots as they watched a stupid movie that he only watched for the violence held no meaning anymore. Those memories, those adventures, they would be gone from their minds, plucked out and replaced with new ones to forget the pain and he will be the only one remembering them. That bothered him somewhere deep down.

He went to hell and back with those three idiots, literally. He couldn't laugh about them and say those were good times because now when those three idiots think about those times they'll think that they were horrible, that he was horrible.

He ran away from that house that was now ash and ran until when he looked behind him he couldn't even see it.

What was wrong with him? He didn't know. He didn't want to know.

He looked to see that he was on a busy side of the city. He pulled his hoodie over his head and looked down as he walked down along the sidewalk. He was still a wanted man after all.

"Look Tom! Matt would love this!", A voice said from across the street. He stopped and looked over.

There they were. They both wore their warm winter coats and boots. The one who always wore green and had a bright smile looked to the one who always wore blue and had that constant look of boredom on his face as he pointed to a purple scarf that was displayed at a shop window.

"Yeah, I guess it his type.", The other said back dully, clearly having a bad time. The one who wore green suddenly looked across the street and looked over at him. The one who wore green's eyes locked with his eyes and the world seemed to freeze for a few seconds.

When it slowly thawed out he ran. He ran until his legs hurt and his lungs ached. He didn't know where he was running to, he didn't care.

He stopped when he reached a dead end in an abandoned alleyway.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck!", He screamed as he scratched the scar on his face.

What was wrong with him? He was Tord, the Red Leader, the trigger-happy hentai loving maniac. He shouldn't feel regret. He shouldn't be feeling guilty. Of course he did horrible things but that's what does, that's what he should do.

He missed them.

He missed Edd and his drawings and how he loved to drink Cola and he missed Matt and his dedication and his happy mood. Hell, he even missed Tom. He didn't want to miss them though, because there was no going back. He couldn't erase the past or cover it up, it's there and it will always be there hanging over his head. If he went back they would turn him away and what made him feel worse is that they should turn him away.

He didn't know what to do, he didn't know where to go. For the first time in his life he was lost.

He could go to Hell. He remembered enjoying that place a lot. He could go back there, it would be like a permanent vacation. The gun in his pocket seemed heavier but he ignored it. Even going to Hell would bring memories back.

Snow began to fall and he noticed that he was cold. Without thinking he walked over to the large box a few feet away from him and went under it, sitting on the dirty ground, his knees drawn towards his chest and his head down. He blinked and blinked but he couldn't stop those awful tears.

He felt pathetic, he was pathetic. He sobbed and sniffled but he knew that he did wretched things, that he still wants to do wretched things. He couldn't change what he did. He couldn't erase his sins. So he sat there crying and shivering.

What a sight.


	2. He Didn't Look Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He goes out of his box and back into reality.

He stayed there for a while in that box. He just shivered and cried until he ran out of tears and his body felt numb. He was glad he had stopped crying, he felt foolish for crying. He didn't deserve to cry, he didn't have a right to after all that he did.

The howling Winter wind blew harshly against the old box and eventually it fell over and the winds took it away. He was freezing. The snow and wind bit into his skin. He looked down at his hands and saw that they were red. It took him almost a full minute to realize that the blood he spilt wasn't haunting him and he merely had the beginning stages of frostbite.

He rubbed his arms as he stood up from the cold hard ground with shaky legs and walked out of the alleyway. It was way to cold out to stay outside. He thought about heading over to the local homeless shelter just to get some warmth and clear his thoughts but he pushed the thought aside. He had a huge bounty over his head and be didn't feel like ending up in jail.

The streets were relatively empty by now besides a few people heading back to their warm homes after their early holiday shopping. Was it that time of year already? Time passed too fast. How long will it take for him to wither away?

He walked under the soft shade of the lampposts and the bright Christmas lights until his eyes fell onto an old cozy looking coffee shop that was still open. He didn't particularly like coffee but with his whole body feeling frozen and his lungs burning from breathing in the frigid air any hot beverage sounded good to him.

He carefully stepped inside the small shop. It was relatively empty besides the college student in the corner who was chugging down coffee as he typed up a last minute essay. He pulled down his hood a bit before sitting down at one of the booths away from the window. He looked down at his hands still burning and bright.

"Hello.", A waiter said after a short minute. He looked up without thinking and the waiter gasped and dropped the pen they were holding. He was about to reach for the gun in his pocket until the waiter quickly said something.

"I-I'm sorry sir, that was rude of me, I was just a bit shocked there.", The waiter said as they picked up their pen and smiled uncomfortably. He touched the scar along his face absentmindedly.

"It's fine.", He said in a low voice and the waiter just nodded.

"What would you like today?", They asked him and he shrugged.

"The smallest coffee you have..", He said after a few seconds of consideration.

"Would you like anything in it?"

"No, nothing in it.", He said and they nodded as the jotted something down. 

"I'll be back in a minute with your order.", They said as they walked away. He just went back to looking at his hands. The redness was slowly starting to go away. He frowned.

"Here you go!", The waiter said as they set down a small cup of coffee on the table.

"How much is it?", He asked without looking up.

"It's on the house.", The waiter said. He didn't have to look up to see their smile, he want to their smile. He said nothing as they walked away. He picked up the coffee and headed out back into the harsh Winter cold. He took a drink from the scolding beverage but it made him feel even colder. His stomach turned and he felt like he was going to throw up. He threw the barely touched coffee away and trudged on.

He made it to a sketchy motel not too far away and stayed the night. The nights were cheap which helped with his currently low budget. He should probably get a job of some sort. He knew it was impossible though. The man at the front desk had one of those old wanted posters of him behind him but just gave him a smile and let him through. Not everyone was crazy like that guy. Someone was bound to find him, someone was bound to hand him in. The thought made him shudder a litte.

He surprisingly never went to prison before but he's heard stories. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad there, he could break out no problem most likely too. Just the thought of being caged made him uncomfortable though.

The hard bed and thin covers didn't help him at all that night so he spent his time wide awake, counting all of the cracks on the ceiling above him. He got to around ninety-five before he grew bored.

He got up from the bed and looked outside through the cracked window. The sun was starting to rise. He watched as the snow slowly stopped falling and the winds died down. He reached into his pocket, the urge to smoke to rising but he felt with but his money, a lighter, and the cold metal of the loaded gun.

"Fuck.", He muttered under his breath with a sigh. He walked down the broken stairs that led to the exit, looking straight ahead and pulling his hood over his head as the crazy man at the desk waved at him.

When he got outside he was met with the same bone chilling cold that he experienced yesterday except there was no wind or snow to make it even worse. He walked along the empty sidewalk, his feet growing cold as the snow soaked through his sneakers and made his socks wet and his feet cold.

He looked around at the old small city that he used to know so well and found that he barely could remember where the local convenience store was. When he finally found it the sun was already up and some kids were on their way to school.

He went inside the store and went up to the counter, quickly buying some cigars and cigarettes before heading out. He sighed as he took a cigarette out of the box and lit it up, taking in the smoke.

"You!", A familiar voice seethed from next to him. He turned to his side to see Tom pointing at him, a look of pure rage on his face.

"So Edd wasn't seeing things after all. What the hell are you doing here!", Tom said as he poked him in the chest. He didn't even blink.

"I'm not sure.", He said the lie as he looked away. He knew exactly why he was here but he sure wasn't going to tell Tom that he wanted to stay with them again. After all that he did he didn't even have to ask.

"Well then get the fuck out of here! I thought you had big plans.", Tom said and he just shrugged.

"They didn't work out."  
"Good! Now go before I report you to the cops."  
"Go ahead."  
"I'll tell everyone you hurt that you're here."  
"Go ahead."  
"I'll kill you."

He just looked to the Tom and cocked his head with a small grin.

"Go ahead, there's a gun in my pocket you can borrow.", He said as he ignored the shocked look on the other's face. He continued to idly smoke his cigarette like he hadn't just been threatened by the man beside him.

"You hurt them you know.", Tom said and he gritted his teeth. "Edd and Matt locked away all the pictures left of you, they don't even say your name anymore."

"Maybe that's for the best."

"You have odd views of what's best.", Tom sneered and he just shrugged.

"Are you going to turn me in or not?"

"No, you'll just escape."

"Then if you're going to kill me the gun is in my pock-"  
"You don't need to repeat yourself. As much as I would love to, I'm not stooping down to your level."

"Then why are you still here?"

"You're planning something. There's no other reason you would come back here.", Tom said accusingly and he almost laughed.

"Whatever makes you happy.", He said as he started to walk away. He didn't look back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not proud of this at all but hope you liked it. Thanks for reading.


	3. Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mistakes made in the past can not be changed. Or can they?

He went back to the old motel room and stared at the ceiling, two hundred and five cracks, or did he count that one far to the top right twice? He didn't know. He was too tired to even think clearly but he didn't want to go to sleep.

Why was he even here? The old base was perfectly fine. It had weapons and supplies that could last years. It would have been fine. Why was he here?

After a while his thoughts just mashed together, repeated and broken out so many times that his head started to hurt.

He groaned as he stretched and turned on the small TV in the room. It didn't have no remote so he had to flip through the channels through the knob on top. There was nothing but static, some cooking show, static, and some kids show. He just left it at the kids show after he realized everything else was just static. He need something to distract his mind.

"What is time?", The animated little girl asked some overgrown cat.

"Time is a way to measure our progress throughout the days of our lives.", The overgrown cat said back.

Time,time,time. His mind went blank as he stared at the ceiling once more, the words from the the TV going into one ear and going out the other.

Time, time, time.

What time was it? He found himself not knowing even what day it was. Time is so important but yet it wasn't. His time had long past.

Wouldn't it be nice if you can go back to the past? Wouldn't it be wonderful to get a chance to just go back in time and fix that one stupid mistake that will haunt you for the rest of your life?

"Time can only go forwards, not backwards."

But what if it could? What would he even do then? There were so many mistakes that he wouldn't even know where to start.

"Chose carefully your every action, because you can't go back and fix it.

Can't go back and fix it.  
Can't go back.

He turns off the television quickly and heads out the door, the same phrase ringing through his mind as he walked with a set goal in mind.

Can't go back? Just watch him.

He turned off the TV and found a notebook and a pen in the nightstands second drawer. After reading through the notes written by previous occupants which included old memes and the word 'boobies' and finding he didn't laugh at all, he flipped to an empty and slightly crumpled page and stared at it. 

He clicked on the pen, making marks at the corner of the page to get it working again. He hesitated, the pen hovering over the page.

The gears in his head were dusty and worn. They had rusted over and refused to work. They didn't want to work anymore. How are you supposed to make a groundbreaking discovery when your brain refuses to cooperate.

He threw the notebook on the dirty ground and the pen followed not long after. He needed to take a walk. He needed to clear his head, open the windows and let the dust out. The windows were locked in his mind and he didn't know how to get them open. He was fumbling in the dark, messing around with the blasted lock.

He pulled his hoodie over his head and went out. The hoodie was getting worn and it smelled of sweat. He could care less though. 

While walking down the street he looked down at his shoes their steps. He smelled the familiar scent of cigar smoke but he didn't expect to run into a familiar face.

"Hey, watch where your go-", They stopped and gasped as he looked up. It was Paul.

"Boss…Didn't expect to see you here. Sorry about that.", Paul said a bit nervously but he just shook his head.

"It's fine.", He said. Paul winced a little at the clear aggravation in the other's voice.

"Look boss, I'm sorry. We were going nowhere. Everything just came to a halt after that..that encounter with people you used to know. We just couldn't get through to you. Maybe..maybe I should have tried harder, I don-", Paul stopped as the man he once followed shifted a bit on his feet and his skin started to turn pale.

"Hey are you ok?", Paul asks. 

He holds back a groan from this sudden pain in his stomach and in an instant the once proud man falls over and his head slams into the concrete and his eyes close.

When he awoke he felt awful. His head throbbed and the pain in his stomach felt even worse than earlier. His lips were cracked and his tongue felt like a piece of sandpaper in his mouth. He felt warm, a nice cozy cover on top of him and a mattress that was slightly springy but much more softer than the motel's underneath him. He noticed that he was in a pair of jogging pants and a t-shirt that were too big on him.

"What do you mean he should stay here? We barely have enough money to support ourselves right now!", He heard a voice say.

"I think he was living on the streets Patryk! His clothes were in a horrible state and it seems like he hadn't eaten for days. We can't just leave him alone out there.", A voice said pleadingly. 

"Paul. I know we can't leave him out there but what are we supposed to do? He's not right in the head, especially not right now. His wanted posters are still all over the city so he can't get a job.", The first voice said.

"I know he's not right in the head but we just left him there! We should have tried more, we should have did more! God knows what he's doing back here.", The second voice said.

"How about we ask him what he wants when he wakes up."

"We left him there, he's not going to want to stay and you know it."

"Paul..you of all people should know that Tord is unpredictable."

And with that the voices went silent and he closed his eyes and fell back into a deep sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this story might be moving too slow but I'll try to speed it up. thanks for reading :)


	4. Travel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was time for him to get to work.

The next time he awoke he groaned as he placed his hand on his throbbing head. He opened his eye and found that the glaring sunshine didn't help his migraine at all. 

He slowly sat up on the comfortable bed, wincing as his stomach groaned twisted. He looked to his side to see Paul sitting on an uncomfortable looking chair. He was slumped over slightly with an arm around the back of the chair, eye closed and snoring softly.

He frowned a bit at the familiar man. He thought about waking Paul up, asking the man where he was but he decided against it. Disturbing the man's peace seemed like a shoddy thing to do despite how illy he felt about him currently. He left the sleeping man be.

He turned his attention off of the sleeping man and looked on the nightstand. There was a bowl of what looked like tomato soup and a piece of bread was next to it. He tried to look away from the food, pretending he didn't need it. Was that really why his stomach hurt? Was he really that hungry.

He found himself picking of the bowl of soup, ignoring the perfectly placed spoon next to the bowl and drinking the slightly cold contents faster than he meant to. Before he knew it the soup was all gone and he was already reaching for the piece of bread.

"Slow down…you'll choke if you eat that fast.", A voice said softly from the doorway.

He turned quickly with the piece of bread already stuffed in his mouth and saw Patryk standing there. 

He said nothing as he chewed the piece of bread, more slowly this time. The feeling of embarrassment crept up inside of him. Was he really so weak that he couldn't last a couple of days without food?

"Where am I?", He asked as he wiped the crumbs on his face off with his sleeveless arm. "And where's my sweater?"

"My dad, he passed away awhile ago and in his will he gave the house to me..Me and Paul have been staying here for a while. I washed your clothes. They were pretty dirty.", Patryk said.

"There was stuff in the pockets. Where did you put it?"

"It should all be in the first drawer of that nightstand right beside you."

He checked inside the drawer and sure enough everything was there. His gun, cigarettes, and cigars seemed untouched. He quickly counted through his money and found that not a dime had been swiped.

"We're not that shallow.", Patryk said with a hint of amusement as he closed the drawer. He merely grunted back.

"I know you're mad at us and you have a right to be but-"

"I'm not mad.", He said before Patryk could finish. "It wasn't your obligation to be there and take care of me. I did nothing to keep the movement moving. You had every right to leave."

"I know but…We still should have stayed."

"You're here now."

"You're right about that. You can stay for as long as you need to if you want.", Patryk said.

"That..That sounds nice.", He said. "That could work."

"Great. Is there anything you need before I head off the work?", Patryk asked.

"No, I-", He said but then stopped. "Actually, yeah. I could use a few things."

He asked for a pen and a paper and this time the pen didn't stay hovering. He needed information, lot of it. He needed to clear the dust and get those gears working again.

After he wrote down the long list which Patryk blinked at but shrugged, Patryk left with a quick goodbye and some information about where the bathroom and kitchen was.

He did nothing throughout the day. He just talked to Paul a bit after he woke up from his sleep. They talked about minor things like how Patryk was currently working Walmart and Paul was working at the airport.

"They actually allow you to fly?", He had asked skeptically.

"No, I just sweep the floors.", Paul said back sheepishly and he smiled a bit at the thought of an airport allowing Paul to fly.

After drinking five glasses of water and doodling some hentai things on the pad and pen from earlier, Patryk came through the door with a bag in his hand.

"Here you go boss. They didn't have all them there, sorry.", Patryk said apologetically but he shook his head.

"It's fine. I didn't expect them to all be there.", He said as he took the heavy bag and lugged it over to an empty space on the carpet floor in the living room. He emptied the bag's contents on the floor.

It was library books and a notebook and pen from the dollar store. He looked at the library books and something in his mind sparked as he picked up a random book and opened it to it's first page, eyes skimming over the words and collecting the contents in the words.

"What is he doing?", Paul whispered to Patryk.

"I'm honestly not too sure but..I think I have a hunch.", Patryk whispered back.

With the notebook open on his side and a book always in his lap he lapped up the information he needed, always writing the very crucial bits down in the notebook.

"Boss, it's getting pretty late..", Paul said to him. He looked up from his book and at the ticking clock and saw that it was midnight.

"I'm almost done with this book.", He said back as he looked down at the words. 

Paul just said a quiet 'goodnight' to the man and in the morning he would find him in the same position. On the floor surrounded by books, his head down and a thin line of drool coming out of his mouth as he snored.

Paul would always sigh in amusement and carry him up to his bed and tuck him in.

It went on for about a week, this constant routine. He would read his books and take notes until the dead of night, only offering cryptic and short responses if Paul of Patryk asked any questions about it. He only got up to use the bathroom or to eat and even that was a hassle to get him to do.

"Boss your food is getting cold!", Patryk would call from the kitchen.

"I'll be there after I finish this chapter.", He would call back.

"That's what you said ten minutes ago!"

After a while the number of books he read started to become larger than the number of books he had yet to read until he was on his last one.

On that night Paul sighed exasperatedly with a smile as he looked at the sleeping figure. Paul's eyes wandered over to the notebook beside the slightly snoring man. He carefully took the notebook and opened to it's first page.

The words 'Time Travel' were written in bold letters on the top of the page.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)


	5. Reflection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He couldn't even look at his reflection thinking about it. Paul helps with that though.

Hey boss.", Patryk said as he walked up to the the corner of the room where he was, careful not to step on any of the scattered books on the floor. He had a cover around his shoulders and looked up from the book he was reading.

"What?", Tord asked a little irritated. He had stood up late last night and had little patience.

"Sorry, it's just that the books are due back at the library tomorrow. Would you like me to renew them?", Patryk asked and he looked down at the book in his lap and shook his head.

"No. This is the last one. I should be finished with it by tomorrow.", He said and Patryk shifted from one foot from the other nervously.

"What is it?", Tord asked without looking up.

"What do you mean?", Patryk asked.

"You're nervous. Why?"

"I just-", Patryk quickly said but then stopped and took a deep breath. "Me and Paul are just curious about what you are doing. Why are you researching time? What are you planning? Is there any way we can help?"

He blinked and looked up at the man who was sheepishly smiling and shook his head.

"No, no. I don't need any help. And what I'm doing is something I'd rather not get you both involved with."

"Well..If you change your mind don't hesitate to ask us.", Patryk said.

"Ok, I'll do that.", He said as he looked down at his book again. He had no intention to take him up on his offer. To include them in this sick plan would be horrible and although he didn't want to admit it, he was grateful for what Paul and Patryk were doing for him. They didn't have to do anything for him but here they were, working hard at their hard jobs with little pay and feeding his sorry ass.

The next morning when he opened his eye and looked over at the clock to see that it was ten in the morning. He groaned as he got up from the comfortable bed and made his way to the bathroom. Patryk was surely off to work by now but it was a Tuesday so Paul should be home.

When he made his way to the bathroom he looked in the mirror and hissed slightly as he looked away from his reflection. He always dreaded looking at a mirror, let alone his reflection, after the incident. An ugly scar made by burns and gashes that healed made it way on the left side of his face. The eye was what was the worse though. His left eye was gone, unsalvageable. What was left after the incident was a slightly melted eyeball that had to be cut out to avoid infection. That day hurt a lot and burned in his memories but maybe he deserved it.

He washed his face, rubbing his sleepy eye. When he turned the sink off he saw one of Paul's eye patches on the corner of the sink. After a moment of hesitation and reasoning he slowly picked the eye patch up and examined it in his hand.

Suddenly the door swinged open.

"Oh, sorry boss I-", Paul stopped as he saw his extra eye patch in his hand.

Tord looked down and realized he was still holding it. 

"If you wanted an eye patch you could've just asked boss.", Paul said with a smile. "Here let me help you with that."

Paul went over and took the eye patch from his hand and gently wrapped it on his head, the patch over his hollow eye socket.

"There you go! Much better.", Paul said as he patted his shoulder gently before leaving the bathroom.

He looked into the mirror. Yeah, that's much better.

The rest of the day was uneventful to say the least. He and Paul just sat on the couch all day and watched old reruns of movies since it was Paul's day off. The books were all gone, picked up by Patryk in the morning and taken back to the library. The last thing they needed to pay for was library fees. Tord didn't mind though. He had all the necessary notes that he needed in his notebook.

When night neared the two went into the kitchen, Paul carefully flipping pancakes as Tord watched.

"And then you just flip it like this.", Paul said as he flipped the fluffy pancake in the with ease. Tord watched closely in silent amazement as he watched the batter turn into a golden brown. Breakfast for dinner was always good.

His amazement was cut short by the slam of the front door and the loud steps that sounded all the way to the kitchen.

"Paul!", Patryk said as he breathed heavily, out of breath as if he had been running for a while. "I need to talk to you right now."

Paul looked at Patryk with a look of confusment. "Ok. Boss can you look after those pancakes for me?", Paul asked looking over to Tord and he nodded.

Paul and Patryk walked out of the room leaving Tord alone in the kitchen, the soft sizzle of the batter on the pan the only sound in the room.

He held his breath, trying to hear the soft sounds of yelling coming from a couple of rooms away.

"What? What are we going to do?"

"The basement. Put him in the basement."

He tensed up as he heard pieces of the conversation.

"They're coming tonight…have to hide…"

Then the conversation stopped and two sets of footsteps sounded toward the kitchen, both faces having a look of despondency.

"Boss, looks like we have some bad news..", Paul said.

"If you need me to leave, I can.", Tord said. As soon as it left his mouth he felt like taking those words back and burning them. He didn't want to leave. He knew he was foolish but he didn't want to leave these two idiots yet. It was too soon, too fast.

"No.", Patryk said quickly. "No, we sort of have a plan."

"What's happening?"

"We'll explain it to you later boss but right now you have to trust us.", Paul said with a pleading look.

Tord looked between the two men and sighed.

"What's this plan of yours?"

The pancakes burned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, this is horrible. Thanks for reading :)


	6. Big Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tord hides and Paul whines.

The next ten minutes were a blur.

Paul quickly threw the burnt pancakes away and made some new ones as Patryk got a blanket from the closet.

After the pancakes were hastily cooked and a blanket was found, the three went downstairs to the dark and cold basement.

"It should be here somewhere..", Patryk mumbled as he turned the light on and inspected the wall. After a minute of looking at the wall with chipped ugly brown painting he had found what he was looking for.

"Here it is.", He said as he pushed an unseen button on the wall in and a small trapdoor appeared on the wooden ground nearby.

Tord looked inside to see a very small room that was almost the size of one of those small closets. Through the light of the basement he could see cobwebs and dust inside.

"What's going on?", He asked.

"Someone reported to the police that they saw you through the window of the house.", Patryk said. "They're coming in about an hour or less to search our house. A buddy at the police station just warned me about it."

"You told people I was here?", Tord asked.

"No, of course not! He just warned me because we have some illegal guns.", Patryk said quickly and Tord smiled a little at that.

"Here.", Patryk said as he took the blanket in his hands and wrapped it gently around Tord. "It's pretty cold down here."

"How long do I have to stay in there?", Tord asked. A feeling of unease started to form in his stomach.

"Just until they leave.", Paul reassured him. "Here, I even brought down your pancakes so you can eat them while you wait.", He said as he handed a plate that had five pancakes and a fork and a knife on top of it.

"Thanks.", Tord mumbled and Paul and Patryk blinked with surprise.

"No problem, boss!", Paul said with a grin. "You should probably start hiding. They could be here any minute."

With a plate full of fluffy pancakes and a cozy blanket wrapped around him Tord sat down in the small hiding place in the floor and held his breath as the opening was covered and he was shrouded in complete darkness.

He started to eat some of the pancakes but after his third one he got thirsty and felt like he would choke if he ate another one. He put the plate to the little space at his side and wrapped the cover tighter around him as he waited in the dark.

He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve so much of this kindness, especially when he was literally giving nothing back to them. He did nothing for them and yet they are doing so much for him. A feeling of deja vu went through him and he shuddered. No, it wouldn't happen again. He would make sure of it.

After a while of complete silence and darkness he could hear sets of footsteps walking down the stairs.

"What's down here?", An unfamiliar voice asked.

"Nothing much, just where we keep the washing machine and dryer.", Patryk answered back.

Tord held his breath and stayed still as he heard a set of feet above him.

The person asked both Paul and Patryk questions involving Tord and if they knew his whereabouts.

"Tord? Never heard of them. Maybe you could show us a picture of them?", Patryk said. His acting skills seemed to be pretty great because he did most of the talking and the officer was gone less than an hour later.

There was silence again until footsteps walked back down and in no time light flooded in the small space.

"You ok boss?", Paul asked as he helped Tord out. Tord nodded. 

"How did it go?", he asked.

"It went pretty well. Luckily our involvement with you isn't wasn't very well spread.", Patryk said.

Tord looked around at the basement. He had never been down in the room before. It had a washing machine and dryer just as Patryk had said but it also had shelves aligned with tools and spare parts. The gears in his head started to power up.

"You ok boss?", Paul asked as looked worriedly over at Tord.

"I'm fine. Where is my notebook?", He asked.

"It's in the drawer upstairs where your other stuff is at.", Patryk said and Tord nodded and went upstairs to said room.

When he opened the drawer he picked up his notebook and saw his cigars and gun underneath. He got out a cigar and lit it as he placed the notebook down on the bed next to him and picked up the pistol.

The urge to pull the trigger and shoot at something itched inside of him and made his hands tingle. A gun shot wouldn't be wise though. Someone might call the police and he didn't feel like getting Paul or Patryk into more trouble. He owed them that much at least. 

He put the gun away in the drawer and picked up the notebook, looking through the notes he had written. He had big plans. Big plans that would fix everything. Fix every mistake he had ever done. Then everything would be better.

He flipped through the notebook as he walked down to the basement where Paul and Patryk still were. He paused at the middle of the stairs.

"It's too dangerous Paul. We can't close the curtains all the time, it would seem suspicious.", Patryk said.

"But it's the middle of Winter and it's cold down here! He could get sick.", Paul said back.

"We could bring more blankets down here or even get a small heater. If someone finds him here again he could go to prison. We could go to prison. It's safer this way.", Patryk reasoned.

"I know but…it's almost Christmas.", Paul said.

"Paul, don't play the Christmas card on me. That's not going to work.", Patryk said as he crossed his arms.

"But he's going to be lonely and bored down here! What if Santa doesn't know that he's here and forgets to give him a present?", Paul reasons. Patryk snorts.

"We can always come down here and visit him. You're acting like he's moving to a different house and Santa won't forget about him.", Patryk says with a smirk.

"If you say so.", Paul says uncertainly with a shrug.

"I know so. And besides, I'm sure he already has some sort of plan in his mind on what to do. Isn't that right boss?", Patryk says as he turns towards the stairs where Tord was listening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I realized in my last chapter I said Paul wore an eyepatch but he just wore gauze in The End Part 2 to cover his eye, so oops. Thanks for reading :)


	7. Please

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time to get to the real work.

The basement wasn't so bad if you ignored the bitter cold and the obvious lack of furniture. The ground was caked with dust so hard that it become part of the stone floor and it made his feet feel cold through his socks.

Patryk went around the house, picking up all the blankets besides his and Paul's and piling them on the floor.

"I have to sleep on the floor?", Tord asked. 

"No, of course not! I just have to find the air mattress. It should be down here somewhere.", Patryk said as he looked around the basement shelves.

"Do you use any of this stuff?", Tord asked as he walked up to the dusty wooden shelves that held many different tools and parts.

"This old stuff? No I'm not so good at building or fixing things.", Patryk said with a shrug as he kept looking.

"So it would be ok if I used some of them?", Tord asked.

"Sure. Use whatever you need boss. I'm not sure what you're up to yet but me and Paul will be right behind you.", Patryk said. Tord stayed quiet.

"Ah! Here it is!", Patryk said as he pulled out a flat and empty air mattress and an air pump.

Tord opened his notebook to a fresh page and started sketching some ideas in his head with the dull pencil that he had found on the ground.

"Here you go boss.", Patryk said and when Tord looked up from his drawing the air mattress had the small mountain of blankets on it.

"Thanks.", Tord said and Patryk smiled sadly.

"I'm sorry we can't really afford a heater right now. I know it's really cold down here.", he said as he rubbed his arms.

"It's fine."

"Well, I'm going to go get some sleep. Don't hesitate to wake me up if you need anything. Paul should be home in a bit but he'll probably be tired."

Tord just nodded.

"Goodnight."

When Patryk was gone from the room Tord looked at the shelves, checking things off from the checklist he had formulated in his mind. To go back in time. To create a time machine. It was going to take a lot. A lot of time, a lot of things. He hoped it would be worth it in the end. He didn't like to think about the consequences for the possibility of failure.

He had a few sketches, a few plans. His hands itched to get to work, to go back. So he got to work.

Looking over his extensive notes from the books and his plans he started to build the base. 

He would work hard into the night until Patryk would come down at six before he goes to work to check up on him. He would sometimes give him a list of things he needs and the money for it. Patryk would look at him with a confused look after seeing the odd list but he wouldn't question anything about it.

"Get some rest boss.", He would say as he waved goodbye and left.

After that he would roll his eyes and mutter something about how Patryk is not his mother and that he wasn't tired but after a while of no progress from the hazy feeling of drowsiness he would knock out on the makeshift bed.

He would sleep until eleven which was when Paul woke him up to eat some breakfast. He would groan slightly as he lifted his head away from the soft and warm covers reluctantly, shivering from the loss of heat. Sometimes on those bad days he would just take a cover along with him, wrapped snugly around his shoulders.

Him and Paul would then eat pancakes together, always pancakes and nothing else. Paul would make talk about something Tord would listen and reply when needed.

"I wish I could fly a plane again instead of cleaning floors.", Paul said one day.

"I don't think that would be a good idea."

After their breakfast Tord would go back downstairs and work on the machine. Tord would go back to work until dinner which would include both Paul and Patryk or sometimes just Patryk. It depended on the day and their schedules.

He would then work on the machine well into the night until morning came and the cycle would repeat.

His bones started to ache and his muscles started to hurt after a while. Sometimes he would sit and watch a rerun of an old movie with Paul as he drew on paper or he would even have a root beer with Patryk. Those days were nice but rare.

It was December 23 when the police came again, this time with no warning. Paul had ran downstairs while Patryk stalled the police man. 

"Quick, hide!", He whispered as he hit the button and carried Tord to the hiding place before the other could even react. He quickly shut the opening and hid the mattress and blankets behind one of the shelves.

After a while of looking from the police man and Tord holding his breath as he waited, the police man left. 

Tord just went back to his work like nothing happened when Paul let him out again.

"That was a close one, right boss?", Paul said.

"Yeah, I guess so."

The next day Paul came down early in the morning.

"Hey boss! Tomorrow's Christmas! Santa's going to give us so much presents this year, I can feel it.", Paul said determinedly. 

"Tomorrow's Christmas?", Tord asked with slight surprise.

"Yeah. You didn't forget did you boss? Maybe you should take a short break from this.", Paul said as he patted the machine.

"No!", Tord yelled. Paul looked at him in surprise. " No..it's almost finished. I just need to apply some wires."

"It's not healthy to work this much though..", Paul said.

"It's perfectly healthy. You're just over thinking things.", Tord said with a yawn as he screwed some bolts into something.

"How about just two days? Today and tomorrow. You can just relax. Patryk has been thinking about how maybe you can come back upstairs again. He bought curtains for the windows and he says the police most likely won't come again.", Paul said.

"Relax? No thanks. I have things to do.", Tord said.

"Please, boss?", Paul asked.

"No."

"Please?"

"You're going to keep bothering me aren't you?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading :)


	8. Blood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas fun and blood.

After Paul started to get giddy, smiling and singing some random strung together song about how they're going to celebrate Christmas together, Tord rolled his eyes and went back to work as Paul went to go tell Patryk the news.

Tord wasn't one to really celebrate Christmas to it's fullest. He'll usually acknowledge it's there, maybe even getting close friends a last minute present, but he wasn't one to decorate or sing songs.

At one in the morning Tord rubbed his tired eyes and yawned as he hammered away. His hands were red and blistered and his arm started to ache.

"Boss, you're still up? You should get some rest. Paul is going to be up early tomorrow..", Patryk said as he placed a hand on the slumped over man's shoulder.

"It's fine…I'm not tired..", Tord said slowly. His words slurred together and he swayed slightly from side to side.

"Sure you aren't.", Patryk said sarcastically with a slight smile. "Come on, let's get you to bed.."

Tord sighed and complied, allowing Patryk to carefully sling one of his arms over his shoulder as he helped him up the stairs and onto the bed in the spare bedroom.

"Goodnight boss.", Patryk said softy and he went out of the room, closing the door gently behind him.

Tord closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep.

The next morning Tord woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. He groaned as he opened he opened his eyes, blinking rapidly a few times to get used to the bright light shining through the cracks of the closed curtains.

"Boss, it's Christmas!", Paul said with a smile and quickly ran out of the room.

Tord yawned, grabbing something from his notebook and carefully putting it in his sweater pocket. He went to the living room and saw the place was slightly decorated with a wreath on the wall and a small ornamented tree in the corner.

Paul was by the tree, inspecting the presents underneath. Patryk was on the couch sipping at a hot cup of coffee.

"It's kind of early..", Tord mumbled as he sat next to Patryk on the couch.

"I told you.", Patryk said with a small smirk as he got a cup off from the coffee table and handed it to Tord.

Tord grunted a thanks as he gratefully accepted the coffee, the scolding liquid burning his tongue as gulped it down.

"Today is going to be awesome! We can go sledding and watch movies.", Paul said.

"Ok, first we need to open the presents though.", Patryk said.

"That'll be no problem!", Paul said as he grabbed one of the presents under the tree from Santa and ripped it open. 

The next few minutes were full of unwrapping presents. Paul got new boots from Patryk and a guide on how to fly a plane from Santa. Patryk got a gift card to a root beer store from Paul and a stress ball from Santa.

"And these two are from us to you.", Patryk said as he set two boxes down next to Tord.

"For me?", Tord asked confused.

"Yup.", Paul said with a smile.

Tord hesitantly opened the two gifts, ripping the wrapping from the objects inside.

He got a Insane Zombie Pirates From Hell shirt and a few hentai manga books.

"You guys…you guys shouldn't have.", Tord said as he looked at the gifts.

"Do you like them?", Paul asked.

"Yeah…I like them very much."

The rest of the day was full of old holiday classic movies and sledding. 

That night when Tord got tired in the middle of A Christmas Story and went upstairs to his room he looked at his shirt and remembered why he was doing all of this.

Memories of old times with him, Edd, Matt, and Tom all piled up on the couch with drinks in their hand and amused smiles on their faces as they watched a particular gory scene played in his head and he wondered if he could ever be able to do that again. To watch movies like that again with his old friends would be a privilege.

He thought about Tom's words from about a month ago. They refused to mention him anymore. They hated his guts and he knew that they were justified in doing so.

He didn't sleep that night.

The next few month were relatively uneventful at best.

He would work on his machine in the basement until his hands were raw and red and he couldn't keep his eyes open no more. Paul and Patryk still worked a lot and after a while they worked even more. A part of Tord felt bad inside for that. They were working their asses off to support the three of them and buy basic nessesities and he was down in the basement working on something that he was only doing for his own selfish reasons.

One night he heard both of them arguing about whether to sell the TV or not while they thought he was sleeping. He just worked even harder the next day.

"Boss…..your hands.", Paul said one day when he went in the basement.

"They're bleeding. You have to stop working so hard on it.", Paul said.

"I'm perfectly fine.", Tord said with annoyance. 

"But you're not.."

"You should worry about yourself. I'm almost done. I need to do this.", Tord said. His head hurt and he was aggrevated due to the tiredness in his bones.

"Why do you need to do this? It can wait until tomorrow, you should really get some re-"

"Shut up!", Tord seethed. "It can't wait until tomorrow. It just can't. There is blood on my hands and the sooner I get it off, the sooner I can finally rest."

"What do you mean?", Paul asked. Out of the corner of his eye Tord could see Patryk walk in the room.

"I'm going back. I'm going back to that day where I fucked up and hurt those stupid idiots that were my friends. Oh god, I know it's selfish but I need to go back. I need to.", Tord said. The grasp on the wrench that he was holding loosened and with a clang it dropped to the floor. He put his hands on his face and blinked rapidly.

"So it's a time machine..", Patryk said. "You're going back in time."

"Yes."

"It might be dangerous, to change time."

"I know."

"I just.. I don't think it's the right way to go about things.", Patryk says and Tord frowns.

"What do you mean."

"I mean that you should go talk to them. You should talk to them and see if they might offer forgiveness before you alter events and create a mess of time.", Patryk reasoned.

"They'll never forgive me."

"You don't know that."

"I do. They all hate me. Tom said they won't even say my god damn name."

"You should still go talk to them. Your motives were far from pure that's true, but maybe they might think differently if you tell them you changed.", Patryk said calmly. Paul nodded in agreement.

"I literally can't. What would I even say?", Tord said as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Sorry. Say that you're sorry.", Paul says.

"Just…Just promise me that you'll talk to them before you do anything drastic.", Patryk said and he put a hand on Tord's shoulder.

"Fine. I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for not adding a chapter yesterday, I had family over. Hope you like this chapter, it was kind of rushed. Thanks for reading :)


	9. Leave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tord sets out to go to talk to his old friends.

Tord didn't go to his old friends and inside himself he promised himself that he wouldn't. He was doing something good right now, right? He didn't need to see them because he was already working hard to go back and make things right. 

Two months later after tinkering around with the machine it was finally done. Tord wasn't sure if it even worked but he hoped so. All of his calculations he had made, all of the information that he has collected, it had to be right. It just had to be.

It was May and the basement was warm but not hot since the sun had long set. Tord was sitting on the floor in front of the machine he created, his mind blank.

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

He's been building this machine for half a year now. His hands were marred with scarred blisters from his seemingly never ending work. Even after all this time building and tinkering he didn't know what he was going to do, what he should do.

He had to stop himself. He knew that was the goal. He had to go back to that day where he wanted to take over the world but only ended up destroying his. He needed to make sure that power didn't go to his head again.

"So..it's finally done?", Patryk said as he sat next to Tord on the floor and looked at the machine.

"Yeah.", Tord said.

"Does that mean you're going to go soon?", Paul asked as he sat down next to him on the other side.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"You didn't talk to them.", Patryk said.

"No, I didn't. I already know what they're going to say, what they're going to do."

"That's only what you think. Besides, you promised.", Paul said as he crossed his arms.

"Ha, I guess you're right. I'm not the best at keeping promises though, you guys should have known."

"Go right now. It's still pretty early.", Patryk said as he checked the time on his old watch.

"I'm not ready. I know what I did wrong and if someone did what I did to them to me I don't think I would ever forgive them.", Tord mumbled.

"Well..We all make mistakes. Yours might have been a big mistake but..maybe they can forgive you for it.", Paul said with a smile. Tord heard the uncertainty in his voice and it chipped at his already dwindling confidence inside.

"Alright.", Tord said as he stood up and wiped some dust off of his pants. "I'll go right now then."

"That's the spirit. Be careful out there and call Paul if something goes wrong.", Patryk said as he reached into his pocket and handed Tord his flip phone.

"Thanks guys…for everything.", Tord said.

"No problem boss."

"Tord. Call me Tord. If you want to that is.", Tord said. He wasn't their leader anymore and them calling him boss made him feel like they thought they were inferior to him.

"Ok Tord.", Patryk said his name slowly like it was wrong to say it out loud but he smiled.

"Good luck.", Paul said as he offered a thumbs up.

The corner of Tord's mouth tugged upwards as he pulled his hood over his head and shoved his hands in pockets and walked out of the house he spent months in.

To be completely honest, he meant to just take a long walk and then come back later with a story of how they said they still hated him and that he should die but he felt guilty for thinking about doing that.

Paul and Patryk trusted him and lying to them after all they did was wrong even to Tord. The least that he could do was attempt to sort out some issues with his old friends.

He found himself walking to the new house that they all lived in. He stood in front of the building, hand over the door as if he was deciding if he should knock or not. He took a deep breath and hit the ends of his knuckles on the wooden door.

He stood there, heart beating fast in his chest and legs shaking slightly. Every fiber in his being told him to run, to go away but he gritted his teeth and stayed put.

After a minute the door swung open.

"Sorry for the wait, I was cooking some ba-", Edd said and immediately stopped when he looked at the person who was standing before him.

"Hello.", Tord said hesitantly as he offered a sad smile.

"What..What are you doing here?", Edd said as he looked away.

"I just came to talk."

"Talk about what?", Edd asked.

"I came to say that I'm sorry.", Tord said. Edd stayed quiet. He looked back up at Tord and stared at his marred face full of scars.

"I took advantage of you. I took your trust and threw it out the window. I was so stupid, I'm so sorry Edd. Will you please forgive me?", Tord asked with the feeling of tears welling up in his eyes.

"I..I don't know. You know what you did. How can I forgive you for something like that? Where would I even start? Tord, you killed a man. You destroyed our home. You injured Matt and Tom. You said we weren't friends..", Edd said.

"I know I did but I was wrong Edd. We are friends, we always were.", Tord said pleadingly.

"No..I don't think we can be friends anymore. I don't think we ever can be. I'm sorry.", Edd said as he began to close the door.

"No! Wait, please!", Tord said as he caught the door. "Please, I'm so sorry."

"Edd, what's the hold up, who is that?", Tom asked as he walked by. His smile dropped when he saw who was at the door.

"You.", Tom said as he poked a finger in Tord's chest hard. "You have no right to be here! You can't just come to our new home and destroy it again!"

"What, no, I came to-"

"To what? To apologize?", Tom said with an angry snort. "Oh, Edd I'm so sorry I killed your neighbor and tried to kill Tom. Can I move in with you guys so I can destroy your trust again?", Tom imitated.

"I wasn't.. I wasn't asking for that.", Tord said. His insides twisted. He was asking for that. He wanted that.

"Then what? Why are you even here?", Tom yelled as he pushed Tord back.

"Tom, no. He said he just wanted to apologize.", Edd said.

"Edd, back me up here. You know what he did. You were at Jon's funeral. You saw Eduardo break down and say sorry over and over again. You saw Mark cry as they lowered the body down into the ground. You know about Matt's nightmares about him that make him scream in the middle of the night. He doesn't deserve forgiveness! He doesn't deserve a second chance!", Tom yelled.

"I know.", Edd said. "I know."

"I should call the cops on you. We could get a lot of money out of it and get the justice we deserve. I can even turn in those two guys you're staying with.", Tom said. Tord felt like he was punched in the stomach. 

"Leave them out of this, they did nothing wrong.", Tord hissed.

"Then leave us alone and this time never come back.", Tom said as he slammed the door and locked it. 

Tord stood there for a minute, the events that just happened seeping into into his skin and going through his veins like poison. It burned inside of him and he scratched at the scars with his long nails until they opened up and bled.

He walked away from the house and walked back to the house he had been staying in for months, ignoring the pain on his face and the heat that made his hair slightly damp with sweat under his hood.

"So how did it go?", Patryk said when Tord opened the door. Patryk and Paul were si

"What happened? Did they do that to you?", Paul said as he quickly got up, a look of anger forming in his eyes. Tord looked at him confused but then remembered what he did when he saw blood caked in his long nails.

"No, no. I guess I did that.", Tord said and Patryk sighed as he walked up to Tord and looked at the marks.

"This is not going to heal so well..I'm guessing it didn't go so good?", Patryk asked as he inspected the scratch marks that were lapped over the scars.

"You could say that.", Tord said as he looked down. "I told you it was going to go exactly as I said and you didn't listen to me"

"It was worth a try, you shouldn't mess with time if there is another option still available."

"But there never was another option. I only had a one more chance and I fucked that up months ago. I should have never went.", Tord said. Bis voice was getting louder as he kept speaking. He was shaking with anger and he didn't know why. Maybe he was just mad at himself.

"Boss, er, I mean Tord. It's a good thing you went. Now you know for certain how they feel.", Paul said.

"Yeah. Now I know for certain that I'm going. Right now."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a tad longer than usual. Hope you liked it and thank you for reading :)


	10. Something New

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tord goes back.

Right now?", Paul asked. He looked upset, his eyes wide and mouth open.

"I just need to do this. I just need to fix things already.", Tord said as he scratched at his face.

"Stop that, you're making it worse.", Paul mumbled as he gently moved Tord's hand away. Paul looked into Tord's eyes and sighed.

"Are you sure you want to do this? You can just stay with us you know. I know we're not the best but we can try better.", Patryk said, his voice full of guilt.

"It's not you guys. It was never you guys. It was all me and only me. I'm not doing this because I don't like you guys enough to stay. I'm doing this because I don't like myself enough to have things stay the way they are when I have the power to fix my mistakes. To finally start over on a fresh new page.", Tord said with a smile. "Maybe you guys can even start fresh now."

"What's.. What's going to happen to us, to this world when you fix things?", Paul asked.

"This timeline, it should cease to exist.", Tord said as he looked down.

"So these last six months are going to be erased?", Patryk asked.

"Yeah I guess so.", Tord said.

"I..I don't think I want them to but if this is what you want then go ahead.", Patryk said as he looked away.

"Look at it this way, you won't have a homeless and wanted criminal in your basement anymore.", Tord said with a shrug.

"Homeless? I thought this was your home?", Paul asked.

"No, this was never my home. All I did was intrude.", Tord mumbled.

"No, not at all.", Patryk said and Tord rolled his eyes but smiled.

"Thanks guys. For everything you offered me these last six months and those events way before.", Tord said.

"It was our pleasure.", Patryk said with a small sad smile.

The three then walked to the machine downstairs and with a final hug Tord pulled away from the two who had helped him all this time and stepped inside the machine.

"Goodbye, old friends.", Tord said as he waved one last time and closed the door behind him. Tord ignored Paul's watering eyes and Patryk's sad look as he punched in the date that he made his biggest mistakes pressed a button. 

The next few minutes were a blur. His head spinned and his body shook with the whole machine. It lasted for five minutes, this dizzying and nauseous feeling. Tord was scared that the machine was broken and that he was going to be stuck there forever as he closed his eyes tightly.

Suddenly everything felt better and the world stayed still. He slowly opened his eyes to find himself lying on the ground outside of the house he used to live in. He blinked, not used to seeing the house instead of a pile of rubble. He quickly got up to his feet and ran inside the house.

The door was unlocked and when he stepped inside there was nobody in sight. He ran to the room where it all started and kicked open the door.

Through his working eye he saw himself spin around and look at him in surprise.

"Who are you?", The old him asked confused, a look of annoyance clear on his face.

"You. I'm you from the future.", He said. His mind was slowly being filled with rage the more he looked at the man he hated the most.

"Me?", The old him said skeptically, looking at him up and down.

"No, actually I'm not exactly you. You're a sick bastard. You hurt your friends who cared and trusted you. You deceived them even after they offered you a place in their home! You fucking went behind their backs and tried to kill one of them! You killed a man who didn't deserve it and you ran away afterwards, crying like a fucking useless idiot! You've burdened people and caused havoc. You carried out your actions with no remorse! I'm so fucking sick and tired with being associated with you! I'm so sick and tired knowing that we're the god damn same person!", Tord yelled, his voice getting louder and louder as he walked closer to his old self who was slowly backing away. 

He punched himself in the face. He slammed his fist into his old self until the face he looked down upon was purple and bruised. When his old self tried to get away be just kicked him in the side.

"I'm sick of being this sick person..", Tord said as he looked down on his old self. "So maybe…maybe we can both become something new."

Tord reached down and hugged his old self. He hugged himself so tightly that part of him were combining with his old self. 

Memories played through his mind and he screamed. He saw the blood again. So much blood on his friend, on his arm and his hand. He saw himself going to hell. He saw himself running to Edd's house in the middle of the night. He saw himself smirking as he crossed his arms in the ruins when Tom came out injured. He saw himself meeting Edd for the first time. He saw himself with Patryk and Paul on Christmas. He saw his old friends slamming the door on his face.

He clenched his eyes shut and put his hands over his ears. Countless memories kept playing through until it hurt. There were tears in his eyes that feel freely and rolled down his cheek and he hugged his knees and sobbed.

When he calmed down and the memories slowed down and finally arranged themselves in his mind he looked down at his hands with both of his eyes. He was finally back to his old self, but he wasn't his old self.

"You!", Tom said as he opened the door. "What do you have to say about this?", Tom said as he pushed his wanted poster in his face. Tord blinked.

"Yeah. I was the leader of a vigilante group.", Tord said with a shrug.

" What? Then what are you doing here?", Tom asked with a scowl.

"I..I came to spend time with old friends."

"Ah-ha! I knew it- Wait what?", Tom asked him confused as he put his pointing finger down.

"I came back to spend time with you guys. I really haven't seen you guys in a while.", Tord says while offering a small smile. His hands felt sweaty and his whole body cringed inside with how wrong this was.

"Oh yeah? Then what is this, decoration?", Tom said accusingly as he motioned to the secret room full of buttons.

"Oh that? This is an old thing I made a long time ago.", Tord said as he smiled sadly at the room. "It was just for security measures, just in case something bad happened."

"So you..you really just came here to hang out?", Tom asked confused.

"Yeah.", Tord said as he looked around. "Actually Tom, you can have your room back. It was kind of rude of me to kick you out like that."

"Yeah, you don't say.", Tom said and Tord could have sworn he saw Tom's eyes roll.

"And I'm.. I'm sorry. For treating you the way I did. You never were my favorite but maybe I took things a little too far.", Tord said and Tom blinked.

"Are you ok?", Tom asked suddenly.

"I've never felt better.", Tord said with a small smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter will be posted tomorrow, thanks for reading :)


	11. Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He is at home. Or is he?

The next few days were pretty good compared to the last six months he went through that didn't even exist anymore.

They welcomed him with open arms back to their home and he accepted gratefully, not uttering a peep about what almost happened.

Late at night when he couldn't help the gnawing feeling of guilt eating away at his insides he would stare at the ceiling with no cracks. Something about all of this didn't seem to sit right inside of him.

One night where he particularly couldn't sleep in his new room that used to be a pool he looked at his old sweater he wore when he got here and decided to put in on. He jumped a bit when something fell out of the pocket and hit the wooden floor.

Tord stared in shock at what was on the floor. It was the phone that Patryk had gave him the day he sought out to go reconcile with his friends. He flipped open the phone and looked through the contacts, seeing familiar names of people who loyally followed the Red Leader. The phone in the time he got it from had most of these contacts deleted.

Tord stared at the phone confused. Maybe time got confused by the object and just placed Patryk's current phone in his pocket? The hell if Tord knew. 

He placed the phone on the nice nightstand next to his bed as his stomach turned. What were Paul and Patryk doing now? They had agreed on a meeting point and time before Tord left to go meet his friends. Were they still waiting there? Did they just give up on him?

A part of him thought about calling Paul on Patryk's phone but part of him felt uneasy about this idea. 

He just layed down on his bed again, turning away from the phone and pulling the cover tighter around him as he pretended to sleep.

After a few hours of tossing and turning Tord finally closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep. In the morning he woke up by the feeling of someone shaking his shoulder.

"Come on, wake up Tord! Edd is going to eat all the bacon if we don't hurry down and get some for ourselves!", Matt said like such a thing was so bad.

Tord groaned but got up from bed and followed Matt to the kitchen. When he walked in he found his three friends all arguing over the last piece of bacon. He smiled at the nostalgic display as be swiped the piece and quickly are it.

"Nooo!", Edd said dramatically. Tom grumbled something about Tord being a Communist as Matt patted Edd's shoulder.

Tord walked to the living room and plopped down onto the couch, grabbing the remote and switching the TV on.

The TV was on a news channel. 

"We're here at the scene of the crash where a drunk man driving a semi truck crashed into a small car this morning. The two men in the car were found dead.", A news reporter said.

Tord's breath hitched and his lungs seemed to stop working as the news channel panned to a overhead view of the crash. There in the middle of an intersection, crushed like a mere tin can, was his car. The one Paul and Patryk were designated to use to pick him up.

Tord stood up and ran out living room, rushing up the stairs and grabbing the phone on the nightstand as he went down the list of contacts with shaking hands and pressed Paul's name.

It could have been any worn down blue car. It could have been any two men killed. They could still be alive.

He held his breath as the calling sound met his ear.

"Hello!", A voice said.

"Paul! I-"

"This is Paul here, sorry I couldn't get your message, I'll make sure to call back later.", The recording answered him back.

He called again after that. And then again, and again but each call was met with the same prerecorded message.

He sat on his bed, his breathing uneven and his hands shaking as he called over and over again but nobody answered. Paul didn't pick up the phone and apologize over and over again as he usually did when he missed some calls. Patryk didn't pick up and inform him that they lost the phone for a while and everything was okay. Nobody picked up.

After a while he stopped calling. He went through the list of contacts again and pressed a new number.

"Hello?", A voice asked. "Who is this?"

"It's me, The Red Leader.", Tord said.

"Is that really you sir? How do I know it's really you?", The voice asked skeptically.

"Hentai"

"It is you! How did you get Patryk's phone? Where are you at, we waited for hours for you."

"Where's Patryk and Paul?", Tord asked.

"You didn't hear?", The voice asked quietly.

"No."

"They waited for you at the designated meeting point. Paul said that they were going to try and look around to see if they could find you. While they were looking they got in a car accident with a semi truck and…"

Tord stayed silent.

"They died."

Tord hanged up the call and the phone dropped from his hands. He put his hand over his mouth and tears fell from his eyes. A few ugly sobs slipped from his lips as he hugged his knees and banged his head against them.

He killed them. He killed those two idiots who helped him that one time that didn't exsist. He spent a Christmas that never happened with them. He made pancakes with Paul and he didn't. He watched a marathon of his favorite movies with them that they watched even if they were uncomfortable with the graphic gore in them. No he didn't. He erased those times. They didn't do anything like that. He killed them.

"Oh god. Oh fucking god, I'm so sorry.", Tord said as he sobbed. 

The next few days were a haze. After an hour Edd came into his room and saw him crying. Edd had never seen Tord cry before and didn't know what to do. 

"What happened?", Edd asked worriedly as he put a hand on Tord's shoulder.

"I'm so sorry.", Tord said back. He hiccupped as those ugly and gross sobs passed his lips. Boogers went out of his nose and the tears wouldn't stop but he didn't care. He killed his best friends. 

Edd stayed with him until late at night, offering him tissues and rubbing his back. Matt came in and asked what was wrong.

"Maybe I can make him feel better?", Matt asked as he sat next to Tord on the bed. Tord had run out of tears by now but his face still shined from the tears.

" I'm so sorry.", He said.

"For what? You did nothing wrong.", Matt said as he offered a smile. The tears came back. He did everything wrong.

"What's going on?", Tom asked as he poked his head into the room. He blinked in surprise when he saw the crying man.

"We don't know, he won't tell us what's wrong.", Matt said.

"Hey Commie, you're worrying them. Spill what's bothering you.", Tom said as he poked Tord's shoulder.

Tord put his head down onto his drawn up knees.

"I'm so sorry.", Tord whispered.

"For what?", Tom asked but Tord just cried again.

He was sorry for what he did before. He was sorry that part of him wanted to go back to when he made that stupid mistake and stayed with Paul and Patryk. He was sorry because part of him would rather stay here with his three friends.

He was sorry because he wasn't sure if he was at home or not. Home was with Patryk and Paul. Home was on that bed where he could read his new hentai books and wear his new shirt. Or was he already home? Was home with Edd, Matt, and Tom? 

He was sorry because even if he covered up his horrible mistakes with lies and deceit he still had innocent blood that stained his hands and will never wash off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, thank you so so much for reading this fanfic. It means so much to me that some of you actually like this story. I literally cried right now as I finished it. I'm planning on making more Eddsworld fanfiction soon. I hope you have a great day :)

**Author's Note:**

> This fanfic in no way relates to the real life people the characters represent.  
> Thanks for reading


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